


Moving On

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Category: Smallville
Genre: AU Season 10, Big Dumb Alien, Clark Kent is a bad friend, F/M, Gen, Oliver calls him on it, Shovel talks, discussions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24243211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Before he leaves Metropolis to head back to Star City, Oliver has a serious conversation with a bewildered Clark Kent.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan (implied)
Kudos: 6





	Moving On

Oliver finished taping up the last box and glanced around the empty room, a small smile on his face. It was the end of an era. Granted, a short era. But an era nonetheless. He had a lot of fond memories about the Watchtower. They'd become a family there. He'd taught Chloe self-defense there, how to shoot an arrow. He'd also been thrown through the window--twice. Okay, so not all of the memories were as good as some.

Still. He was feeling rather nostalgic when a sudden gust of wind hit him and he sighed inwardly. Of course.

Clark opened his mouth and closed it again, looking around as a frown slowly started to form on his face. They had just finally managed to fix the Zod problem and he had spent the last week spending as much time with Lois as it could. It was the least he could do considering everything he had put her through, but when he finally decided to stop by the Watchtower to talk to Chloe, he found it empty except for Oliver and a few boxes.

"What's going on?" He demanded, worried.

Oliver met his eyes. "We're moving headquarters," he said simply.

"Where to?"

"Star City."

He frowned harder, looking at Oliver like he had lost his mind, "why? Where is Chloe?"

"She's already there, actually," Oliver said with a slight shrug.

"She left without talking to me?" Clark narrowed his eyes.

"She left three voicemails for you, Clark. You never returned her calls or she would have." He raised an eyebrow.

"I was busy," his voice was quieter this time and he looked more uncomfortable.

Oliver nodded slightly. "You've been a busy guy for awhile." His voice was quiet, too.

"Why is she moving with you?" He asked and although he was still frowning, this time there wasn't as much accusation in his tone.

He paused for a moment. "We've been together for half a year, Clark." He gazed at the other man. "And we needed the change. All of us. Including Mia."

Clark stopped, frowning harder again, " _You_ and Chloe?" He asked in disbelief, if it had been going on for that long, surely he'd have heard about it.

"Yes. Me and Chloe," Oliver said calmly, not taking offense to the disbelief.

Something about this didn't seem right, it didn't sound like Chloe, "She never mentioned anything."

"Neither of us did," he said with an easy shrug. "We didn't want to jinx it." Which was partially true. The other part was that it hadn't started out as anything more than a friends-with-benefits situation. When it had changed, neither of them had really seen it coming.

Clark's jaw tightened for a second and then he relaxed it, nodding and not knowing what to say to the information.

He watched Clark carefully for a moment, then leaned down and picked up his marker, labelling the box.

"When is she coming back?" He asked after a moment.

Oliver glanced up at him. "If I have a vote? She won't be." His voice was quiet.

"She can't just skip town without seeing Lois, Oliver."

"She and Lois had lunch two days ago," he said with a shrug. "She knows already."

Clark's face fell, Lois hadn't mentioned anything, but with the fire he had to attend to most of the previous day because of the Blur, he hadn't really seen Lois much since.

"Lois didn't want to be the one to tell you because she doesn't want to be caught in the middle of the two people she loves the most," he said quietly.

"Oh," He nodded, his jaw tightening a little and he took a deep breath, "I should go, let you finish packing." He said politely, he couldn't help but feeling like he had just been slapped in the face by both Chloe and Lois.

Oliver rose to his feet, noticing the change immediately. "Can you blame her?"

Clark raised one eyebrow questioningly at Oliver, not sure if he was talking about Chloe or Lois.

He shrugged a little. "Either of them."

With a sigh, he shook his head, "I've had a lot going on too, Oliver."

"That was never a question, Clark."

"I will stop by sometime to see her," that wasn't a question either.

Oliver studied him for a moment. "If you can be nice, you're welcome to do so."

Clark just frowned at him.

He arched an eyebrow.

"I don't _enjoy_ arguing with Chloe, Oliver. She's one of my best friends." Or she used to be.

"You haven't exactly treated her like a best friend in a long time, Clark. Or a friend at all for that matter."

"It's over now." He said simply.

"Yes, it is," Oliver said just as simply.

"Things are different."

"Extremely," he agreed.

"It changes things," Clark said, not wanting to get into details about his friendship with Chloe with Oliver.

"Maybe for you," Oliver replied, watching him carefully.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying for the last year you've been distant and frankly, kind of awful to Chloe. And you should understand she may not be so quick to trust you again," he said.

"Is that what _she_ thinks or what _you_ think?"

"It's what's true," Oliver said, gazing at him intently. He moved a little closer to Clark. "You've yelled at her, you've accused her of a lot of crazy things, and you've only come by when you needed something from her. You walked out on her after she lost her husband and when you came back, you avoided her as much as you possibly could. She's a person, Clark. She has feelings."

"So do I," he clenched his jaw, watching Oliver, "Chloe isn't innocent in any of this."

"None of us are," he responded evenly. "But somehow you're the only one who kept punishing your best friend for all of it."

"I don't need this from _you_ ," Clark narrowed his eyes, "if Chloe has something she wants to talk to me about, she can do it herself."

He chuckled a little, involuntarily. "She might have at one time, Clark. But you've pushed her so far away, it's really no wonder she agreed to leave Metropolis as easily as she did. You don't even answer your phone when she calls."

"I was _busy_ ," he repeated.

"Not too busy for Lois," he said quietly.

"You know that's different," Clark frowned, Lois was his... for lack of a better word, girlfriend and he owed her as much since he couldn't exactly explain his absence.

"Yeah. It is. But Chloe was your best friend for ten years. That should have made a difference, too." 

"None of it matters anymore," Clark said firmly, "we disagreed over a lot of things, but it's over now." He saw it that way and he knew Chloe would too, regardless of what Oliver was saying.

"No, missing out on a year of your best friend's life doesn't matter at all," he said wryly, shaking his head. "You know, for a guy with super powers who's capable of the things you're capable of...I can't believe you didn't also get granted a super brain to go with them."

Narrowing his eyes, Clark frowned, "you may think you know everything, but you don't understand my relationship with Chloe, Oliver. Regardless of what was going on, we have been best friends for over a decade and things don't change just like that, it doesn't work that way."

"It didn't _just_ change, Clark. It's been changing since the day Jimmy Olsen was murdered." He shook his head. "And I understand things a lot better than you think I do, considering."

"Considering _what_?"

He set the box down on the emptied desk. "Considering I've spent more time with her in the last week than you have the last year?" He arched an eyebrow.

Clark took a deep breath and tightened his jaw, "this is between Chloe and I, _you_ have nothing to do with and when I talk to her, none of this will matter so there is no point to this, Oliver."

His jaw tightened a little this time and he nodded, stepping toward Clark. "It may be between you and Chloe, but it does have to do with me, too. Because what upsets her? Upsets me. And frankly, Clark, if she gets upset over something you do or say again? You won't like how upset I get with you." His tone was calm, but full of intent.

"No matter what may be going on between the two of you now, my friendship with Chloe goes back much longer than that and so you have been spending more time with her lately, that doesn't mean it changes anything between Chloe and I. I would suggest you stay out of things you don't really understand and let _me_ solve it with her."

Now he was starting to get pissed off. "You may have known her longer than me, Clark, but I know her better now than you do," he said coolly. "And don't suggest what I stay out of when it comes to _my_ home." 

"You may have managed to talk her into leaving Metropolis, but you can't stop me from seeing her," he said through clenched teeth.

At that he laughed. "Talk her into it? All I did was ask." He shook his head. "And no, I won't stop her from seeing you if that's what _she_ wants."

"Then let her decide." Clark said firmly.

"That's the difference between you and I when it comes to Chloe, Clark. I always do," he responded, picking up the box and heading past him.

Narrowing his eyes at the other man, Clark stood still for a second before speeding away.

Shaking his head briefly, Oliver turned and looked around the empty watchtower one last time. It was time to move on.


End file.
